Date: 3rd June, 1993
Venue: Camden Underworld, London
Setlist:
Support:
Review: Neil Jefferies, Kerrang!
Whether Diamond Head used to be one of the world’s greatest Heavy Metal bands is not in dispute – when Brian Tatler picks the opening notes to fourth song, the 11-year-old ‘Living On Borrowed Time’, and a shiver rattles down my spine, that is all the proof i need. The question is can Diamond Head be one of the world’s greatest Heavy Metal bands again?…
Truth to tell, this Milton Keynes warm-up show left the question hanging in the air. The presence in the wings of a Third Generation riff-meister, one Kirk Hammett, cast a shadow of doubt. At the end of the set, those at the front are convinced that he and the rest of his merry men in black are going to step up and play ‘Am I Evil?’. That’d be like taking off Bobby Charlton to give Brian McClair a game! And if the people that go see Diamond Head in ’93 only do so to chant ‘Metallica!’ at the end of sets as good as this one, then this won’t last long at all…
Contrast that with the reaction of everyone who’d ever seen them – we spent most of the set grinning inanely, singing along, then headbanging in glorious recognition of a favourite riff played once again by the second generation riff-meister Tatler.
We get unbelievably carried away as numbers like ‘Sucking My Love’ (the acceptable face of cock rock in ’93), ‘To The Devil His Due’, ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ and ‘To Heaven From Hell’ rattle by.
We’re also chuffed to pieces that – with the exception of ‘Run’ (drum cock-ups) and ‘Dust’ (bass blow up) – songs from the new album ‘Death and Progress’ are only 11 years worth of familiarity away from being…just as good!
But what if you ain’t seen ’em before? Okay, you KNOW Sean Harris can sing, but what DOES he look like? Plonker is the word that springs to mind… his hair in a top knot, a village people moustache, and a crushed purple velvet gown. The rest of the band are proficient, but sidemen, plain and simple.
Tatler and Harris are gods, but will the religion touch the new generation like it touched Metallica and Megadeth? I certainly hope so…
Neil Jefferies
Kerrang Magazine
Photos: PG Brunelli